Friday, January 1, 2010

Description
From sasa.com:
SKINFOOD Rice Mask Wash Off contains various nutrients, including Vitamins and Minerals, which soothe irritated skin and whiten skin.
Rice extract is a gentle but effective whitening ingredient. It not only vitalizes skin, but also hydrates skin, for bright and whitened skin.

This mask was one of the items B cp’ed for me during our trade. Honestly, she’s one of the sweetest girls I’ve ever met (Thanks B!!!). The consistency of the rice mask is creamy white with many bits of grinded rice. The mask isn’t really a mask in my opinion. I’ve thought similar of other Skinfood “masks.” After you’ve spread the mask on your face, it doesn’t dry off so I mainly use it for exfoliation instead. The fragrance took me by surprise when I first opened the package because it doesn’t smell anything like rice! It’s super floral but I know some friends who really like it.

Packaging
I thought that pot had somewhat of a silly look to it. The top is overly large compared to the container itself so at first glance, you think it’s a nice big tub but it’s not really that big. The only way to get the rice mask out is to use your fingers or something sanitary like a spoon/spatula.

Cost
100g
$12.30 on sasa.com

Usage
From sasa.com:
After cleansing, apply the mask to lightly wet face (avoid eye and lip area). Gently press and massage (for sensitive skin, massage is not advisable). Leave it for 10-15 minutes and then rinse well with water.

Once in a while, I use it to gently exfoliate after cleansing my face with my normal CeraVe hydrating cleanser. The rice mask is very, very gentle since the rice grains are so tiny. Sometimes if I want to try it as a mask, I leave it on for about 5 minutes and then wash off but I don’t feel much of a difference afterwards.

My Thoughts
I like that the scrub is so gentle because it makes me feel like I could use it everyday if I wanted to. The only thing is that my skin doesn’t feel any different after having used the rice mask so I probably won’t be purchasing this again. It was fun to try. I do like Skinfood’s nice range of masks though so I’ll probably keep trying them out.

I’ve been eyeing Sara Happ’s The Lip Slip for a while now and when BeautyHabit released a December promotional code for 20% off all orders, I gladly put in my first order! Everything arrived within two weeks of the date of order and in two separate parcels since The Lip Slip has been on backorder.

Description
From BeautyHabit.com: A lip balm like no other, the lip slip leaves no color, just the richest, glossiest hydration imaginable. After exfoliating with The Lip Scrub by Sara Happ®, smooth a generous amount of this luxe balm onto lips. Let the hydration begin. Made with crushed pearl & infused with sweet almond, jojoba & macadamia nut oils.

The Lip Slip definitely deserves recognition for its super cute packaging! I love how the gold box is topped with a cute white ribbon bow. I need to find a use for this adorable box. The Lip Slip comes in a large 0.5 oz plastic jar. It is very thick, sticky, and emollient. Upon opening and sniffing the balm, I immediately thought of candles. I asked T for her opinion and she thought that it smelled like her grandma. The Lip Slip is a pale pink shade in the jar but is actually clear with a hint of shimmer upon application.

Usage
I’ve been using The Lip Slip here and there whenever I feel like my lips need a pick me up. I don’t have dry lips so I can’t state what it’ll do for those with extremely chapped lips but I can definitely say that it is very long lasting. I was drinking something and even after putting my lips to the cup four times, I could still feel The Lip Slip on my lips! Amaaaazing! This balm is going to last me forever. Seriously. It’s huge. It’s plentiful. And since it is super emollient, a little will go such a long way.

I dropped it and it already cracked. :/

My Thoughts
I don’t really like the smell or the fact that the texture is super sticky but everything else about the balm is so luxurious that I just can’t dislike it. I love the packaging and I like that the balm is capable of sitting on my lips for forever. I wake up in the morning after submerging my lips in The Lip Slip before bed and my lips are still super moisturized. What a sweet balm! I would recommend it if someone is looking for a lip splurge but the smell can be quite deterring, in my opinion. That’s just me though.

I la-la-loveee this stuff! Ever since I finished the samples J sent me a while back, I’ve been trying to find a bottle online. For a while, I couldn’t find a single place that sold the Korean brand Innisfree (even eBay!) but it has been gaining more popularity lately and I was able to purchase my bottle from sasa.com (prices on sasa are much closer to Korea retail prices than eBay prices are).

Innisfree Wine Peeling Softener comes in 140 mL glass bottle. The softener smells absolutely divine! Just like real wine. I love it! I could probably just sit around with that bottle to my nose and never get enough of it but that’s another story. The consistency is deep, dark reddish-purple liquid with just a bit of graininess.

Usage
How To Use It (According to sasa.com):
Gently apply on the cleansed face with a cotton pad. (Avoid eye and mouth contour)
2. Rinse off with water
3. Apply lotion to moisturize the skin.
Note: The white particle on the cotton pad is the peeling of your skin.

I really like that it’s so gentle that I can use it everyday. I usually pour the softener into my hand instead of using a cotton pad but perhaps I should try a cotton pad to see if it makes any difference.

My Thoughts
After I wash my face off, my skin is always so super smooth! It’s great! Although I have a hard time believing that all the white stuff coming off is my dead skin (because when I wash the same patch of skin again, “dead skin cells” still come off), I still really love this product. The wine smell itself is already a big purchase incentive to me. They should make this scent into an air freshener or something. Man, would that smell good or what.

Since I just recently purchased this bottle, it seems like it’s going to take me quite a while before I have to purchase another. Even when J gave me two small sample bottles, they lasted me quite a while. All in all, this product definitely stands up to its claim of removing my dead skin cells and bringing me a brighter complexion. My skin is always super smooth afterwards and looks so radiant! Definitely a product worth purchasing again and again.

I can’t wait to try the Wine Sleeping Pack! Has anyone tried this? Comments about it or how to use it?

I received a sample size of this wonderful smelling moisturizer as part of a gift but have long put off writing a review. I’m such a bad blogger. Hah. I find it difficult to find or make time to devote myself to this blog even though I think about it so often. A friend recently became a Yelp Elite and credited it to many long sleepless nights. Perhaps that’s the direction I need to go! Haha. Alright. Enough of my rambling, onwards to the actual review!

With calming aloe vera gel, chamomile extract and lavender honey water, Cosmetic Lad will relieve your skin and help it on its path to recovery. It's superb on sunburnt, wind-chapped and razor burnt faces; this is not just a cream for the boys. Girls love it too (especially those with sensitive skin). It hydrates and softens without weighing you down. If you've got the type of man who thinks putting on lotion will suddenly turn him into a girl, pick this up for yourself and then slather it all over him while he sleeps. Hopefully he'll see the light and start putting it on himself.

Cosmetic Lad is a rich, whipped moisturizer from Lush Cosmetics. It normally comes in a black 1.5 oz screw top tub but I am reviewing my 0.17 oz/ 5 g sample size which came in a mini screw top pot. The first thing I noticed when I opened it was the fluffy whipped white texture. I was really excited about that since I’ve never used such a moisturizer. I couldn’t pinpoint the smell but it’s been described as subtle orange and vanilla scent with a base note of sandalwood.

Usage
I love products where you can apply the saying, “a little goes a long way,” and this is no different for Cosmetic Lad. My little sample size pot lasted quite a while even when I was using it once in the morning and again at night. After applying Cosmetic Lad, my skin always felt very moisturized and fresh. The moisturizer absorbed well into my skin although it did leave a bit of greasy residue. I wouldn’t say that the product is as light as the description implies since I was once able to use up two Hello Kitty blotting sheets after application.

takes me 2 oil blotting sheets to get off the excess grease

skin after

My Thoughts
I really enjoyed using Lush’s Cosmetic Lad. It never once irritated my sensitive skin. No redness, itching, burning sensations, or irregular breakouts. It kept my face moisturized all day long so that I never once had to reapply. And it also smells great! I wouldn’t recommend this to those with oily skin since the product is a tad greasy itself but it’s definitely a nice little splurge for those of us with dry skin. It does leave the skin a little on the shiny side though which can be a con for some. The price would keep me from purchasing it again since it wasn’t any kind of miracle product to me. My CeraVe moisturizers are still my HG’s since they leave me looking quite matte and contain around 8x more product for half the price each. All in all, I wouldn’t mind using Cosmetic Lad again but I’ll refrain from purchasing it for now since there are so many others to still try out and I still really like CeraVe.

Nexcare Acne patches are hydrocolloid dressings cut down to fit around your pimples. According to When To Use Hydrocolloid Dressings by Cathy Thomas Hess:

“Hydrocolloid dressings consist of absorptive ingredients (typically carboxymethylcellulose, pectin, or gelatin). Like hydrogels, hydrocolloids can absorb minimal to moderate amounts of drainage. They can be used for partial- or full-thickness acute and chronic wounds. Some sheet hydrocolloids are opaque, making wound assessment difficult; others are translucent or transparent.

Because they are occlusive, hydrocolloid dressings do not allow water, oxygen, or bacteria into the wound. This may help facilitate angiogenesis and granulation. Hydrocolloids also cause the pH of the wound surface to drop; the acidic environment can inhibit bacteria growth.”

Sounds like a good idea for a pimple to me! I’m glad I bought this product and that it works so well because I often get itchy to pick at my pimples whenever I get one. I know I shouldn’t but I still do. Read on for my review.
Warning: pimple picture ahead.

Description
Nexcare Acne Patches come in three different sizes: 18 pieces, 28 pieces, and 36 pieces. The 18 and 26 pieces box consists of circles of two different diameters. The 28 pieces box has 14 star and 14 heart shaped patches each.

I purchased the box with 36 pieces. I really liked that the acne patches were sealed off in a sterile packet because it felt like the product was clean and safe to use. The patches are translucent, skin colored circles of two different diameters. There are 24 small (8mm) ones and 12 large (12 mm).

Usage
Before you apply the acne patch, you have to cleanse the pimple and the surrounding area. After you place the patch on, you have to press it lightly around the edges so that it can adhere to your skin.

1. 8:00PM night before
2. With Nexcare Acne Patch on
3. 10:00AM the morning after

It says that you can use it under makeup but I highly doubt that. Mine was very noticeable, especially since it was stuck in the middle of my forehead between my brows.

I put mine on in the evening, a little before going to bed, and let it sit overnight. I tend to move around a lot in my sleep and surprisingly, the patch did not come off or even shift! I took it off in the morning since I had to go grocery shopping and was amazed because the pimple was no longer existent! I was walking around saying, “I’m sold. Sold, sold, sold!” to myself.

My Thoughts
These acne patches are incredible! I had a tiny pimple with a white head ready to come out and this patch completely annihilated any trace of that blemish.

I think I’ll still use benzoyl peroxide as a preventative measure to fight against any future breakouts but I’ll use Nexcare Acne Patches if any babies ever manage to make it past the benzoyl peroxide. Ooh. I’m already excited. I’m definitely buying more of these when I run out!

Please note: This is a review moved over from my old blog at loraborealis.blogspot.com.

Skinfood Black Sesame Hot Mask Review

Description
From back of jar: The mask opens up pores with a warm heat of salt and sugar powder and eliminates waste material in a rough skin affected by the accumulated keratin. It provides an amazing silkiness to skin with nourishing black sesame extract.

Skinfood’s Black Sesame Hot Mask comes in a nice 110g screw top jar. The consistency of the mask is thick, gooey, and grayish-black. It smells just like sesame seeds and even has real bits of sesame in it (both yellow and black pieces). There’s also sugar and salt in it for some extra scrubbin’. It’s quite sticky so make sure you use it on a moistened face to get it all around.

Cost
110g
~$10 on ebay.com
$12.90 on sasa.com

Usage
From back of jar: Apply an appropriate amount to moist face after washing, particularly to areas rich in keratin. Avoid eye area and massage in a circular motion. Rinse with warm water after 3-5 minutes.

It’s been a while since I’ve used anything other than super gentle exfoliators on my skin. I used to always use St. Ive’s Apricot Scrub with real bits of apricot pit in it (which sounds kind of harsh, now that I think about it) but gave that up about a year ago because of my pityriasis alba/eczema outbreak and have yet to go back. I’m not saying that the sugar in this mask/scrub was as rough but it wasn’t as gentle as I had expected it to be. This could be the reason my face looks a bit pink in one of the above photos.

After I washed the Skinfood Black Sesame Hot Mask off my face, my face felt soft, cleaned, and definitely not dry. On the downside, it was still a bit pink but I believe it’s because I haven’t used such a scrub for a while now. It could have been the heating properties but I don’t think it warmed up enough or for long enough. Keep in mind, my skin can be fairly sensitive sometimes.

On a positive note, right after patting dry my face, I noticed a pimple had come up near my forehead! I’m not sure if it was because of the heating properties of the mask but I’m almost sure that it wasn’t there before I put the mask on. I immediately stuck on a Nexcare Acne Patch to test it out since I had also just purchased the product. You can look for that review in a few days.

My Thoughts
I really liked that the mask heats up to just the perfect temperature. It only stays warms for a few seconds (maybe 30 seconds?) and then begins to cool down. I liked that there are a ton of natural ingredients like sesame seeds, sugar, salt, and vitamin e among others. It’s too bad that the sugar was a bit rough for my preferences but I’m sure there are many out there who would like a natural sugar scrub like this one!

Please note: This is a review moved over from my old blog at loraborealis.blogspot.com.

Skinfood Sweet Chocolat Foam Review
Skinfood is a South Korean cosmetics and skincare brand well-known for their use of natural ingredients. Their logo is of a guardian angel representing the purity and goodness of their products. I discovered this brand during my fascination with bb cream a while back because Skinfood’s bb creams are really popular. Here’s my review on their Sweet Chocolat Foam (that’s how it’s spelled on the bottle):

Description
The description on the Skinfood website states:
A foam cleanser containing chocolate powder. Its rich foam and grains cleanse skin, leaving it smooth and moist.
Particularly good for skin lacking resilience or in need of exfoliation.
Skinfood’s Sweet Chocolat Foam comes in a clear 130 mL bottle. The cleanser looks thick and goopy but it’s easy to spread across your face and lather up if you add a tiny bit of water. It doesn’t exactly foam up with big bubbles but it does lather up well. The product smells quite a bit like chocolate but it’s not that strong in my opinion. I love that the cleanser has tiny bits of chocolate in it because they act to gently exfoliate my skin.

Usage
I didn’t use this product everyday but one bottle was able to last me around three months.

My Thoughts
After each sweet chocolat foam use, my skin and hands are always super soft! I really like that the chocolate smell isn’t overpowering and is more of a light chocolate scent. This chocolate cleanser doesn’t irritate my sensitive skin (though you may want to do a skin test first if you have really sensitive skin because everyone reacts differently to different ingredients) and leaves it feeling really soft and looking fresh. It doesn’t leave my skin feeling dry or stripped of its natural oils. I’m definitely looking forward to trying more Skinfood cleansers!